Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals Volume II Part 10

for which I beg you to accept my warmest thanks. The various cares consequent upon so long an absence from home, and which have demanded my more immediate attention, have prevented me from more than a cursory perusal of its interesting contents, yet I perceive many things of great interest to me in my telegraphic enterprise.

I was glad to learn, by a letter received in Paris from Dr. Gale, that a spool of five miles of my wire was loaned to you, and I perceive that you have already made some interesting experiments with it.

In the absence of Dr. Gale, who has gone South, I feel a great desire to consult some scientific gentleman on points of importance bearing upon my Telegraph, which I am about to establish in Russia, being under an engagement with the Russian Government agent in Paris to return to Europe for that purpose in a few weeks. I should be exceedingly happy to see you and am tempted to break away from my absorbing engagements here to find you at Princeton. In case I should be able to visit Princeton for a few days a week or two hence, how should I find you engaged? I should come as a learner and could bring no "contributions" to your stock of experiments of any value, nor any means of furthering your experiments except, perhaps, the loan of an additional five miles of wire which it may be desirable for you to have.

I have many questions to ask, but should be happy, in your reply to this letter, of an answer to this general one: Have you met with any facts in your experiments thus far that would lead you to think that my mode of telegraphic communication will prove impracticable? So far as I have consulted the savants of Paris, they have suggested no insurmountable difficulties; I have, however, quite as much confidence in your judgment, from your valuable experience, as in that of any one I have met abroad. I think that you have pursued an original course of experiments, and discovered facts of more value to me than any that have been published abroad.

Morse was too modest in saying that he could bring nothing of value to Henry in his experiments, for, as we shall see from Henry's reply, the latter had no knowledge at that time of the "relay," for bringing into use a secondary battery when the line was to stretch over long distances.

This important discovery Morse had made several years before.

PRINCETON; May 6, 1889.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of the 24th ult. came to Princeton during my absence, which will account for the long delay of my answer. I am pleased to learn that you fully sanction the loan which I obtained from Dr. Gale of your wire, and I shall be happy if any of the results are found to have a practical bearing on the electrical telegraph.

It will give me much pleasure to see you in Princeton after this week. My engagements will not then interfere with our communications on the subject of electricity. During this week I shall be almost constantly engaged with a friend in some scientific labors which we are prosecuting together.

I am acquainted with no fact which would lead me to suppose that the project of the electro-magnetic telegraph is unpractical; on the contrary, I believe that science is now ripe for the application, and that there are no difficulties in the way but such as ingenuity and enterprise may obviate. But what form of the apparatus, or what application of the power will prove best, can, I believe, be only determined by careful experiment. I can say, however, that, so far as I am acquainted with the minutiae of your plan, I see no practical difficulty in the way of its application for comparatively short distances; but, if the length of the wire between the stations is great, I think that some other modification will be found necessary in order to develop a sufficient power at the farther end of the line.

I shall, however, be happy to converse freely with you on these points when we meet. In the meantime I remain, with much respect

Yours, etc., JOSEPH HENRY.

I consider this letter alone a sufficient answer to those who claim that Henry was the real inventor of the telegraph. He makes no such claim himself.

In spite of the cares of various kinds which overwhelmed him during the whole of his eventful life, Morse always found time to stretch out a helping hand to others, or to do a courteous act. So now we find him writing to Daguerre on May 20, 1839:--

My dear sir,--I have the honor to enclose you the note of the Secretary of our Academy informing you of your election, at our last annual meeting, into the board of Honorary Members of our National Academy of Design. When I proposed your name it was received with enthusiasm, and the vote was _unanimous_. I hope, my dear sir, you will receive this as a testimonial, not merely of my personal esteem and deep sympathy in your late losses, but also as a proof that your genius is, in some degree, estimated on this side of the water.

Notwithstanding the efforts made in England to give to another the credit which is your due, I think I may with confidence a.s.sure you that throughout the United States your name alone will be a.s.sociated with the brilliant discovery which justly bears your name. The letter I wrote from Paris, the day after your sad loss, has been published throughout this whole country in hundreds of journals, and has excited great interest.

Should any attempts be made here to give to any other than yourself the honor of this discovery, my pen is ever ready for your defense.

I hope, before this reaches you, that the French Government, long and deservedly celebrated for its generosity to men of genius, will have amply supplied all your losses by a liberal sum. If, when the proper remuneration shall be secured to you in France, you should think it may be for your advantage to make an arrangement with the government to hold back the secret for six months or a year, and would consent to an exhibition of your _results_ in this country for a short time, the exhibition might be managed, I think, to your pecuniary advantage. If you should think favorably of the plan, I offer you my services _gratuitously_.

To this letter Daguerre replied on July 26:--

MY DEAR SIR,--I have received with great pleasure your kind letter by which you announce to me my election as an honorary member of the National Academy of Design. I beg you will be so good as to express my thanks to the Academy, and to say that I am very proud of the honor which has been conferred upon me. I shall seize all opportunities of proving my grat.i.tude for it. I am particularly indebted to you in this circ.u.mstance, and I feel very thankful for this and all other marks of interest you bestowed upon me.

The transaction with the French Government being nearly at an end, my discovery shall soon be made public. This cause, added to the immense distance between us, hinders me from taking the advantage of your good offer to get up at New York an exhibition of my results.

Believe me, my dear sir, your very devoted servant, DAGUERRE.

A prophecy, shrewd in some particulars but rather faulty in others, of the influence of this new art upon painting, is contained in the following extracts from a letter of Morse's to his friend and master Was.h.i.+ngton Allston:--

"I had hoped to have seen you long ere this, but my many avocations have kept me constantly employed from morning till night. When I say morning I mean _half past four_ in the morning! I am afraid you will think me a Goth, but really the hours from that time till twelve at noon are the richest I ever enjoy.

"You have heard of the Daguerreotype. I have the instruments on the point of completion, and if it be possible I will yet bring them with me to Boston, and show you the beautiful results of this brilliant discovery.

Art is to be wonderfully enriched by this discovery. How narrow and foolish the idea which some express that it will be the ruin of art, or rather artists, for every one will be his own painter. One effect, I think, will undoubtedly be to banish the sketchy, slovenly daubs that pa.s.s for spirited and learned; those works which possess mere general effect without detail, because, forsooth, detail destroys general effect.

Nature, in the results of Daguerre's process, has taken the pencil into her own hands, and she shows that the minutest detail disturbs not the general repose. Artists will learn how to paint, and amateurs, or rather connoisseurs, how to criticise, how to look at Nature, and, therefore, how to estimate the value of true art. Our studies will now be enriched with sketches from nature which we can store up during the summer, as the bee gathers her sweets for winter, and we shall thus have rich materials for composition and an exhaustless store for the imagination to feed upon."

An interesting account of his experiences with this wonderful new discovery is contained in a letter written many years later, on the 10th of February, 1855:--

"As soon as the necessary apparatus was made I commenced experimenting with it. The greatest obstacle I had to encounter was in the quality of the plates. I obtained the common, plated copper in coils at the hardware shops, which, of course, was very thinly coated with silver, and that impure. Still I was able to verify the truth of Daguerre's revelations.

The first experiment crowned with any success was a view of the Unitarian Church from the window on the staircase from the third story of the New York City University. This, of course, was before the building of the New York Hotel. It was in September, 1839. The time, if I recollect, in which the plate was exposed to the action of light in the camera was about fifteen minutes. The instruments, chemicals, etc., were strictly in accordance with the directions in Daguerre's first book.

"An English gentleman, whose name at present escapes me, obtained a copy of Daguerre's book about the same time with myself. He commenced experimenting also. But an American of the name of Walcott was very successful with a modification of Daguerre's apparatus, subst.i.tuting a metallic reflector for the lens. Previous, however, to Walcott's experiments, or rather results, my friend and colleague, Professor John W. Draper, of the New York City University, was very successful in his investigations, and with him I was engaged for a time in attempting portraits.

"In my intercourse with Daguerre I specially conversed with him in regard to the practicability of taking portraits of living persons. He expressed himself somewhat skeptical as to its practicability, only in consequence of the time necessary for the person to remain immovable. The time for taking an outdoor view was from fifteen to twenty minutes, and this he considered too long a time for any one to remain sufficiently still for a successful result. No sooner, however, had I mastered the process of Daguerre than I commenced to experiment with a view to accomplish this desirable result. I have now the results of these experiments taken in September, or beginning of October, 1889. They are full-length portraits of my daughter, single, and also in group with some of her young friends.

They were taken out of doors, on the roof of a building, in the full sunlight and with the eyes closed. The time was from ten to twenty minutes.

"About the same time Professor Draper was successful in taking portraits, though whether he or myself took the first portrait successfully, I cannot say."

It was afterwards established that to Professor Draper must be accorded this honor, but I understand that it was a question of hours only between the two enthusiasts.

"Soon after we commenced together to take portraits, causing a gla.s.s building to be constructed for that purpose on the roof of the University. As our experiments had caused us considerable expense, we made a charge to those who sat for us to defray this expense. Professor Draper's other duties calling him away from the experiments, except as to their bearing on some philosophical investigations which he pursued with great ingenuity and success, I was left to pursue the artistic results of the process, as more in accordance with my profession. My expenses had been great, and for some time, five or six months, I pursued the taking of portraits by the Daguerreotype as a means of reimbursing these expenses. After this object had been attained, I abandoned the practice to give my exclusive attention to the Telegraph, which required all my time."

Before leaving the subject of the Daguerreotype, in which, as I have shown, Morse was a pioneer in this country, it will be interesting to note that he took the first group photograph of a college cla.s.s. This was of the surviving members of his own cla.s.s of 1810, who returned to New Haven for their thirtieth reunion in 1840.

It was not until August of the year 1839 that definite news of the failure of the Russian agreement was received, and Morse, in a letter to Smith, of August 12, comments on this and on another serious blow to his hopes:--

"I received yours of the 2d inst., and the paper accompanying it containing the notice of Mr. Chamberlain. I had previously been apprised that my forebodings were true in regard to his fate.... Our enterprise abroad is destined to give us anxiety, if not to end in disappointment.

"I have just received a letter from M. Amyot, who was to have been my companion to Russia, and learn from him the unwelcome news that the Emperor has decided against the Telegraph.... The Emperor's objections are, it seems, that 'malevolence can easily interrupt the communication.'

M. Amyot scouts the idea, and writes that he refuted the objection to the satisfaction of the Baron, who, indeed, did not need the refutation for himself, for the whole matter was fully discussed between us when in Paris. The Baron, I should judge from the tone of M. Amyot's letter, was much disappointed, yet, as a faithful and obedient subject of one whose nay is nay, he will be cautious in so expressing himself as to be self-committed.

"Thus, my dear sir, prospects abroad look dark. I turn with some faint hope to my own country again. Will Congress do anything, or is my time and your generous zeal and pecuniary sacrifice to end only in disappointment? If so, I can bear it for myself, but I feel it most keenly for those who have been engaged with me; for you, for the Messrs.

Vail and Dr. Gale. But I will yet hope. I don't know that our enterprise looks darker than Fulton's once appeared. There is no intrinsic difficulty; the depressing causes are extrinsic. I hope to see you soon and talk over all our affairs."

Mr. Smith, in sending a copy of the above letter to Mr. Prime, thus explains the reference to Mr. Chamberlain:--

"The allusion made in the letter just given to the fate of Mr.

Chamberlain, was another depressing disappointment which occurred to the Professor contemporaneously with those of the Russian contract. Before I left Paris we had closed a contract with Mr. Chamberlain to carry the telegraph to Austria, Prussia, the princ.i.p.al cities of Greece and of Egypt, and put it upon exhibition with a view to its utilization there.

He was an American gentleman (from Vermont, I think) of large wealth, of eminent business capacities, of pleasing personal address and sustaining a character for strict integrity. He parted with Professor Morse in Paris to enter upon his expedition, with high expectations of both pleasure and profit, shortly after my own departure from Paris in October, 1838. He had subsequently apprised Professor Morse of very interesting exhibitions of the telegraph which he had made, and under date of Athens, January 5, 1839, wrote as follows: 'We exhibited your telegraph to the learned of Florence, much to their gratification. Yesterday evening the King and Queen of Greece were highly delighted with its performance. We have shown it also to the princ.i.p.al inhabitants of Athens, by all of whom it was much admired. Fame is all you will get for it in these poor countries. We think of starting in a few days for Alexandria, and hope to get something worth having from Mehemet Ali. It is, however, doubtful. Nations appear as poor as individuals, and as unwilling to risk their money upon such matters. I hope the French will avail themselves of the benefits you offer them. It is truly strange that it is not grasped at with more avidity. If I can do anything in Egypt, I will try Turkey and St.

Petersburg.'"

Morse himself writes: "In another letter from Mr. Chamberlain to Mr.

Levering, dated Syra, January 9, he says: 'The pretty little Queen of Greece was delighted with Morse's telegraph. The string which carried the cannon-ball used for a weight broke, and came near falling on Her Majesty's toes, but happily missed, and we, perhaps, escaped a prison. My best respects to Mr. Morse, and say I shall ask Mehemet Ali for a purse, a beauty from his seraglio, and something else.'" And Morse concludes: "I will add that, if he will bring me the purse just now, I can dispense with the beauty and the something else."

Tragedy too often treads on the heels of comedy, and it is sad to have to relate that Mr. Chamberlain and six other gentlemen were drowned while on an excursion of pleasure on the Danube in July of 1839.

That all these disappointments, added to the necessity for making money in some way for his bare subsistence, should have weighed on the inventor's spirits, is hardly to be wondered at; the wonder is rather that he did not sink under his manifold trials. Far from this, however, he only touches on his needs in the following letter to Alfred Vail, written on November 14, 1839:--

"As to the Telegraph, I have been compelled from necessity to apply myself to those duties which yield immediate pecuniary relief. I feel the pressure as well as others, and, having several pupils at the University, I must attend to them. Nevertheless, I shall hold myself ready in case of need to go to Was.h.i.+ngton during the next session with it. The one I was constructing is completed except the rotary batteries and the pen-and-ink apparatus, which I shall soon find time to add if required.

"Mr. Smith expects me in Portland, but I have not the means to visit him.

The telegraph of Wheatstone is going ahead in England, even with all its complications; so, I presume, is the one of Steinheil in Bavaria. Whether ours is to be adopted depends on the Government or on a company, and the times are not favorable for the formation of a company. Perhaps it is the part of wisdom to let the matter rest and watch for an opportunity when times look better, and which I hope will be soon."

He gives freer vent to his disappointment in a letter to Mr. Smith, of November 20, 1839:--

"I feel the want of that sum which Congress ought to have appropriated two years ago to enable me to compete with my European rivals. Wheatstone and Steinheil have money for their projects; the former by a company, and the latter by the King of Bavaria. Is there any national feeling with us on the subject? I will not say there is not until after the next session of Congress. But, if there is any cause for national exultation in being not merely _first_ in the invention as to time, but _best_ too, as decided by a foreign tribunal, ought the inventor to be suffered to work with his hands tied? Is it honorable to the nation to boast of its inventors, to contend for the credit of their inventions as national property, and not lift a finger to a.s.sist them to perfect that of which they boast?